How Will Family Radio Followers React to Harold Camping’s False Rapture Prediction

In the days following the end of the world the followers of Harold Camping have remained silent. The one schadenfreude moment came when Robert Fitzgerald (a man who gave his entire life savings towards advertisements proclaiming the end is neigh) stood in Times Square and waited for 6pm to hit New York. As nothing happened he was jeered by tourists, passersby, and a few people who came just to mock him. Fitzgerald became the public face of the doomsday prophet and he looked like a deer caught in headlights.

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His disappointment that the end of the world never came prompted many to actually feel bad for the guy who had gambled his entire life savings on the word of an 89 year old man who has made a career out of predicting events from the Bible. It should be remembered that one of campings main pieces of evidence that the world was about to come to an end wasn’t the earthquakes happening all over the world, or increased instability between nations. Camping resorted to an old stand by of bigotry as to why the end is near. Gays. On his own website Camping wrote “No sign is as dramatic and clear as the phenomenal worldwide success of the Gay Pride movement. In the Bible God describes His involvement with this dramatic movement … We will learn that the Gay Pride movement would successfully develop as a sign to the world that Judgement Day was about to occur,”

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So. You still feel sorry for these bigots? I for one believe that those who spew intolerance and hate deserve to be mocked and ridiculed. In this case Camping’s religiousity became so obsessive and egotistical that he truly believed he was the one chosen man on the planet who God was speaking to. This is standard practice and has happened on numerous occasions throughout the years. From Koresh in Waco to Jerry Fallwell in Louisiana. The one difference is that Camping chose to take it a step further and put an actual date to his prediction. While this caused even the most fervent evangelicals to be critical of Campings prediction (after their pastors told them the verse that “no man can predict the end times” in Matthew) it was actually a step in the right direction. For it is in the realm of science where one generally makes testable predictions. In this case Camping was wrong so it’s time for some new revisions.

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While many would like to point out the disasterous consequences that Camping’s prediction has made on untold families, we are ignoring the larger issue which is now buzzing around the evangelical community and nearly a majority of Americans. This is the idea that the rapture is coming, but no one can ever know the date. This is far more detrimental to society as a whole than one man on AM Radio and a couple thousands followers. The idea that the Rapture is near excuses responsibility for stewardship of the earth and pushes dangerous foreign policy in the Middle East. It is not by accident that fundamentalist christian groups are also very Pro Zionist. They believe that Jerusalem must be returned to the Jews in order for Christ to Return. They always fail to mention that they believe that after the Jews return to Jerusalem that Christ will then return and kill them all.
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This is an ideology firmly entrenched in American politics and as you can see that while Camping is mocked for putting a date on the Rapture, Tom Delay (who’s also a convicted felon) can be seen conversing about the end times and no one bats an eye. And this is the man who was one of the strongest Republican politicians in the country.
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Currently 41% of Americans believe the rapture will come during their lifetime. This isn’t some cult listening to AM Radio all day as they build bomb shelters in their suburban backyards. This is nearly the majority of all Americans. Camping did the right thing by putting his money where his mouth is and standing firm. Many are now wondering whether or not Camping’s followers can now possibly sue to get their money back. But this won’t happen for a number of reasons.
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For one. Historically those who have predicted the end times don’t lose many of their followers, and in the wake of “life going on as normal” they don’t retreat back into common society. They try and reconcile what happened as they do with everything else in their lives. They listen to their leader. In 1844 William Miller, a farmer and amateur Bible scholar predicted the date for Christ’s return. When the date came and went his followers were devastated. Miller’s followers were reportedly weeping for days (we’ll forget about how screwed up it is that people weep for days because the world didn’t end). But in the end, they didn’t hunt down Miller and demand their money back. Instead they found new strength in his word, and as any good Doomsday prophet knows, you can always say that god had mercy on them because they did the work of the lord. This idea will be their shining hope during this moment. And it’s the one they’ll cling on to. In the end Miller’s followers stuck together, and that’s how the Seventh Day Adventist church was born. It still exists today, and it all stemmed from one man’s failed attempt at predicting the End Times.
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The second reason it is highly unlikely that there will be any trial of Camping is that he didn’t do anything wrong. In fact, the US State Department sees his radio station as a non profit religious organization and therefore he doesn’t even have to pay taxes. The law doesn’t compensate people for being foolish with their money, they can only compensate in clear instances of fraud. In this case it would be impossible to prove fraud because it is apparent that Camping truly believed in his prophecy. Also a court of law is not likely to sympathize with a Plantiff who has used their money in a foolish manner and wasn’t forced to donate. So even if there is a very few number of lawsuits they’d be thrown out almost immediately. Camping didn’t commit fraud, he just spoke nonsense and dim witted people believed him. He wasn’t promising a service or a product, he was merely speaking about what he thought was true. To deny him this right would be denying him his 1st Amendment right to free speech. He has nothing to apologize about. He made a testable prediction which turned out to be wrong. The belief that The Rapture will come any day now is the true evil here, and if anyone should apologize it’s the 41% of Americans who still perpetuate this nonsense.
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